Trip Reports What to add to Buenos Aires trip?

[SerenaCerv]

Hi, I'm a 28M traveling to Buenos Aires in a few days for a last minute trip. I have 12 days total - I've planned about 4 days in Buenos Aires and am wondering what else to add to my itinerary. I'm located on the east coast of the US for flight reference. I can drive but would strongly prefer not to. I speak a little Spanish (very very very far from fluent) and can probably read signs pretty effectively.

Interests: Cities - I love historical places and history museums. I'm a sucker for a good walking tour. I love unique neighborhoods and cultures. I'm a bit of a foodie and am interested in fine dining if there's something unique or especially delicious.

Nightlife - I'm interested in a little bit of nightlife. Planning on staying at a bit of a party hostel in Buenos Aires so that could take care of that.

Scuba - I have about 20 dives and my PADI open water certification. Super interested in scuba diving in warm water. I'm still a bit of a beginner so trying to save more complex dives (for example the Galapagos) for a time when I have more certs / experience.

Outdoors - I love mild-medium hikes - I especially love animals, forests, and waterfalls / rivers. I have somewhat questionable joints and am obviously traveling solo so am planning on avoiding anything over like 8-10 miles - as I understand it this rules out Patagonia and Macchu Picchu. Hopefully I can come back after some more training! I also love road biking - would be interested in 20-30 mile rides somewhere.

Budget: Not really a concern short of something truly ridiculous. Let's say 8k as a backstop. Will most likely stay in small hotels / hostels if I'm feeling social.

Current Options:

Iguazu Falls - I'm really really interested in Iguazu Falls but ideally I could add that to the end of my itinerary since I got my Yellow Fever vaccination today. Not sure how viable adding this on to my itinerary is - I did not realize that this was recommended by the CDC! None of the threads / guides I read about Argentina mentioned this concern EDIT: I apparently cannot get my Yellow Fever vaccine right now for medical reasons and cannot go to Iguazu Falls -.-

Other parts of Argentina?? I'm not sure what to add here but if I'm flying all the way down here might as well add something is my thought process.

Colonia and Montevidio - I'm considering going to since it's so close to Buenos Aires, but not sure how interesting these places are.

Sao Paulo / Rio. This should be just after Carnival - as I understand it that may be a better time to actually see the cities lol.

Lima - Peruvian food is good. Don't know too much about it.

Puerto Rico - would be able to go scuba diving there / the outdoor attractions are cool. Heard San Juan is awesome too.

Other parts of the Carribean - open to other ideas here! I don't like just sitting on a beach for a while but a liveaboard would be cool or some diving mixed with other things to do on the island. A lot of the Carribean just seems extremely coupley also which makes me nervous.

Would love some ideas on where I should go with the rest of my time / what else I should put on my itinerary. Super open to options outside of what I listed. Thanks

 

[JulianBC]

Hi, I'm a 28M traveling to Buenos Aires in a few days for a last minute trip. I have 12 days total - I've planned about 4 days in Buenos Aires and am wondering what else to add to my itinerary. I'm located on the east coast of the US for flight reference. I can drive but would strongly prefer not to. I speak a little Spanish (very very very far from fluent) and can probably read signs pretty effectively.

Interests: Cities - I love historical places and history museums. I'm a sucker for a good walking tour. I love unique neighborhoods and cultures. I'm a bit of a foodie and am interested in fine dining if there's something unique or especially delicious.

Nightlife - I'm interested in a little bit of nightlife. Planning on staying at a bit of a party hostel in Buenos Aires so that could take care of that.

Scuba - I have about 20 dives and my PADI open water certification. Super interested in scuba diving in warm water. I'm still a bit of a beginner so trying to save more complex dives (for example the Galapagos) for a time when I have more certs / experience.

Outdoors - I love mild-medium hikes - I especially love animals, forests, and waterfalls / rivers. I have somewhat questionable joints and am obviously traveling solo so am planning on avoiding anything over like 8-10 miles - as I understand it this rules out Patagonia and Macchu Picchu. Hopefully I can come back after some more training! I also love road biking - would be interested in 20-30 mile rides somewhere.

Budget: Not really a concern short of something truly ridiculous. Let's say 8k as a backstop. Will most likely stay in small hotels / hostels if I'm feeling social.

Current Options:

Iguazu Falls - I'm really really interested in Iguazu Falls but ideally I could add that to the end of my itinerary since I got my Yellow Fever vaccination today. Not sure how viable adding this on to my itinerary is - I did not realize that this was recommended by the CDC! None of the threads / guides I read about Argentina mentioned this concern EDIT: I apparently cannot get my Yellow Fever vaccine right now for medical reasons and cannot go to Iguazu Falls -.-

Other parts of Argentina?? I'm not sure what to add here but if I'm flying all the way down here might as well add something is my thought process.

Colonia and Montevidio - I'm considering going to since it's so close to Buenos Aires, but not sure how interesting these places are.

Sao Paulo / Rio. This should be just after Carnival - as I understand it that may be a better time to actually see the cities lol.

Lima - Peruvian food is good. Don't know too much about it.

Puerto Rico - would be able to go scuba diving there / the outdoor attractions are cool. Heard San Juan is awesome too.

Other parts of the Carribean - open to other ideas here! I don't like just sitting on a beach for a while but a liveaboard would be cool or some diving mixed with other things to do on the island. A lot of the Carribean just seems extremely coupley also which makes me nervous.

Would love some ideas on where I should go with the rest of my time / what else I should put on my itinerary. Super open to options outside of what I listed. Thanks

I'd bop over to Uruguay. Colonia is not very interesting, it's historical as an early colony, but Montevideo is much more interesting. You can drop into Colonia on the ferry so it might be worth a look see. Its a UNESCO world heritage site, so I knocked that one off my list.

Iguazu is amazing and a cheap flight from Buenos Aires. I'd definitely make the time, and get a Brazil visa in advance (not sure if you need one these days, but it was a hassle back in the day) so you can see it from the Brazil side. I've never seen so many fucking brilliant butterflies in my life. Ciudad del Este is a a shithole, but if you are into knocking off countries like me, it's worth spending a night. I understand Paraguay is a cool country to visit, but I got ripped off by border control making me pay a bribe of $100 to get out of the country even though I had the proper passport stamps and everything. There's a waterfall there that is supposedly beautiful.

 

[Melody13]

12 days isn’t the most amount of time in my opinion to really feel Buenos Aires as well as fly someplace like Peru. You could do it but it would feel rushed, especially with how beautiful (chefs kiss) bA is

Personally with 12 days I would spend it as follows

D1-5 Buenos Aires (check out Guerrin for some amazing pizza- open since 1932)

Fly to el calafate preferably late afternoon/ early evening- get to hostel/hotel

D6- perito Moreno glaciar + mini glaciar trek if you feel like spending the money/ the experience excites you. You’ll get to your accommodations again around 5-6pm.

Day 7- bus to el chalten, hang out

Day 8- wake up at 2am for sunrise Fitz Roy hike. (I recon it’s sub 8 miles and my favorite hike I’ve ever experienced in my life

Day 9- hang out in chalten or another hike

Day 10- bus to calafate. From here you can either fly to Iguazu (I went and it was beautiful. Personally I preferred the Argentinian side vs Brazil) or carry on wherever you want

But I personally wouldn’t rule out fitz

 

[CarolineTrip]

Argentina is big enough you can spend all your time in it and the other countries need a full trip as well.

So I would do Uruguay, it's close enough.

Then go to Mendoza Wine country and you can be a totally insufferable prick about wine for the rest of your life. Thirty years from now, you'll say "Oh this is a nice red for $200, but it's nothing compared to this Malbec I had when I was in Mendoza, the owner gave us some farm fresh charcuterie and cheese, you had to be there..." There is nothing better in the world than to be an insufferable wine prick.

I'd also do a day trip or more to see the gauchos, and you can add insufferable steak prick to your insufferable wine prick.

They do have tours of Patagonia that you can sign up for, I would do that. You can do something from the coast to the mountains to the south pole.

 

[CartyHTY]

Argentina is big enough you can spend all your time in it and the other countries need a full trip as well.

So I would do Uruguay, it's close enough.

Then go to Mendoza Wine country and you can be a totally insufferable prick about wine for the rest of your life. Thirty years from now, you'll say "Oh this is a nice red for $200, but it's nothing compared to this Malbec I had when I was in Mendoza, the owner gave us some farm fresh charcuterie and cheese, you had to be there..." There is nothing better in the world than to be an insufferable wine prick.

I'd also do a day trip or more to see the gauchos, and you can add insufferable steak prick to your insufferable wine prick.

They do have tours of Patagonia that you can sign up for, I would do that. You can do something from the coast to the mountains to the south pole.

Agreed that Patagonia or Mendoza (or both!) are a great option. I went over Christmas and did 4 days Patagonia, 4 days BA, 4 days Mendoza. I had wished there was more time in Patagonia based on the travel time and route we took, but it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. We rented a car and drove to the Chilean side of Torres del Paine, but you can get similar experiences on the Argentina side with direct flights from BA as well

 

[TripMe]

Agreed that Patagonia or Mendoza (or both!) are a great option. I went over Christmas and did 4 days Patagonia, 4 days BA, 4 days Mendoza. I had wished there was more time in Patagonia based on the travel time and route we took, but it was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. We rented a car and drove to the Chilean side of Torres del Paine, but you can get similar experiences on the Argentina side with direct flights from BA as well

Salta is great! My favorite place in Argentina for sure. I would personally do three days there and visit Iguazu as well (100% worth seeing). Mendoza is great if you like wine, but I didn't really find it all that interesting as someone who only mildly enjoys wine. Could also fit in a day trip to Uruguay in one of your four Buenos Aires days.

 

[ArtmikeGG]

Close to Bs. As. you might go to Tigre for a daytrip and take a water tour through the river delta - that was fun. There's a flea market there as well.

Anything beyond that or Montevideo you're looking at flying, which adds costs and time. It's not like Europe where the next site is an easy train ride.

 

[ArtmikeGG]

12 days isn’t the most amount of time in my opinion to really feel Buenos Aires as well as fly someplace like Peru. You could do it but it would feel rushed, especially with how beautiful (chefs kiss) bA is

Personally with 12 days I would spend it as follows

D1-5 Buenos Aires (check out Guerrin for some amazing pizza- open since 1932)

Fly to el calafate preferably late afternoon/ early evening- get to hostel/hotel

D6- perito Moreno glaciar + mini glaciar trek if you feel like spending the money/ the experience excites you. You’ll get to your accommodations again around 5-6pm.

Day 7- bus to el chalten, hang out

Day 8- wake up at 2am for sunrise Fitz Roy hike. (I recon it’s sub 8 miles and my favorite hike I’ve ever experienced in my life

Day 9- hang out in chalten or another hike

Day 10- bus to calafate. From here you can either fly to Iguazu (I went and it was beautiful. Personally I preferred the Argentinian side vs Brazil) or carry on wherever you want

But I personally wouldn’t rule out fitz

I’ve been to Iguazu a couple times without a yellow fever vaccine. No one in either Brazil or Argentina asked me for it in either 2003 or 2018.

I had no idea it was even recommended till I read this post. Don’t know how prevalent the risks are but it’s a very tropical area.